Doors To Some State Offices To Shut Friday

First Of One-day Closings Will Affect 6,000 Workers

Some Offices To Close In Partial Shutdown

November 07, 1991|By HILARY WALDMAN; Courant Staff Writer

Many state office doors will be locked, telephones will go unanswered and Connecticut River ferries won't run Friday under a money-saving partial government shutdown ordered by Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr.

On the first of a planned series of unpaid days off, about 5,800 state workers have been ordered not to report for work Friday. Partial agency shutdowns are scheduled to take place two days a month for the next seven months.

Because managers, clerks and all direct care workers are scheduled to work Friday, the partial shutdown is expected to have only a minimal impact on public services, state officials said.

Combined with 3,750 planned layoffs, the partial shutdown is expected to save $86 million by June 30.

The closings may have the most effect on blind people, who will be unable to get state-funded training or transportation to job interviews, and to people with alcohol problems seeking voluntary admission to state alcohol treatment centers. Ferries crossing the Connecticut River also will be idle Friday.

Weicker ordered the partial agency shutdowns early in October, after he and state employee unions were unable to agree on a $354 million giveback package he sought to balance the state's 1991-92 budget. At the time, Weicker also ordered the layoffs. He said the partial government shutdown was an alternative to more layoffs.

Negotiations on the givebacks have continued on and off for the last month, with four union bargaining units making wage-concession deals that will exempt their members from the unpaid days off and additional layoffs this year.

The latest group to make such a deal was the American Association of University Professors at the four campuses of Connecticut State University. The leadership council of the professors' union voted Monday to recommend ratification of the agreement by rank and file union members. Balloting on the ratification is expected to be completed by Nov. 22.

The Connecticut State University professors join state troopers; clerks represented by the American Federation of State,

County and Municipal Workers; and professors at the University of Connecticut, all of whom are seeking ratification of wage giveback deals.

Hardest hit by Friday's partial shutdown will be the Department of Transportation, where about 2,900 workers have been ordered to stay home. The shutdown may prompt a lawsuit by the union representing DOT maintenance workers. The union claims the partial closing is an illegal lockout of union workers.

Edward T. Lynch, a lawyer for the Connecticut Employees Union Independent, which represents the maintenance workers, said he plans to file papers in Superior Court today asking a judge to halt the agency closings. Lynch filed a similar suit in July asking for an injunction blocking a partial government shutdown that took place then. Hartford Superior Court Judge Norris L. O'Neill has not yet ruled on that case.

Transportation Department workers also plan to rally outside DOT headquarters on Wolcott Hill Road in Wethersfield Friday at 10 a.m., then caravan to the capitol for a rally. Other furloughed workers may rally at other locations.

Transportation Commissioner Emil Frankel said he expected minimal disruption from the shutdown. He said skeleton crews would be deployed at maintenence garages to respond to emergencies such as a truck rollover or a fuel spill on a highway.

"If something more severe happens, like a hurricane or a tornado, we would have to call in people," Frankel said. If it snows, plow crews would be called to work and paid overtime.

Frankel said road construction will continue, because most of it is being done by private contractors. About 500 engineers will be among those DOT workers exempt from the furlough, because they are needed to inspect ongoing construction work.

At the Department of Mental Retardation, 1,400 employees out of a workforce of about 5,200 will be affected by the partial shutdown, said spokeswoman Virginia Allen.

Direct services to mentally retarded people in day programs or residential homes run by the department will not be affected, Allen said.

"They're going to continue to provide these essential services," she said.

A small crew of managers and clerical workers will staff the department's main office in East Hartford and six regional offices, Allen said, but phones may go unanswered and entrances to offices may be locked.

"We're not sure if the doors will be open or closed. It will depend on whether there is staff at the front desks," Allen said. "People should not expect to get a response if they call. There will be people working, but not necessarily at their regular stations. All of the phones will not necessarily be covered."

Allen urged anyone wishing to contact the department about routine business to wait until Tuesday, the day after the Veterans Day holiday.